Drake started rapping in Arabic and Rihanna fans have some questions
Drake has been on a winning streak for nearly two weeks, dropping highly anticipated summer collaborations with DJ Khaled and UK rapper Headie One. The song and video for “Only You Freestyle” has been met with mixed reactions after Drake attempted an Arabic lyric, much to his fans’ enjoyment and shock. This isn’t Drizzy’s first time dabbling in the language—” this is a blessing mashallah wallahi,” is heard on the remix of “Sweeterman,” while on 2018’s “Diplomatic Immunity”, he raps the line “Inshallah, I hope the mission keeps on gettin’ clearer.” This time around, however, his apparent butchering of an entire line didn’t go unnoticed by fans, trolls, and native speakers alike.
The internet has been in a meltdown since, complete with hilarious memes and Tik Tok clips about the mispronunciation, as well as his motive. The familiar conversation of Drizzy’s many accents and cultural appropriation was also rehashed after fans pointed out that he just dropped bars in French on last week’s release, “Greece.”
If you haven’t heard the UK Drill track by now, Drizzy’s lines include references to his Middle Eastern features and the now infamous effort at the 40-second mark. “Arabic ting told me that I look like Youssef, look like Hamza/ Habibti please, ana akeed, inti wa ana ahla/ With Pop Skull in Gaza but not that Gaza, but still it’s a mazza.” The Arabic bit translates to “I’m sure you and I look better together,” and despite the clever dual nod to both Jamaica and Palestine’s ‘Gaza,’ Twitter’s focus was clear, and they wasted no time dissecting Drake’s attempt at the lingo.
As one user put it, “please observe notes rapper Drake trying to rap in Arabic and, as most English as first language speakers, being unable to pronounce the “hh” sound pronounces it “kh” which in turns “ahhla” to “akhra” and now the lyric says “baby you and I are the sh*ttiest” while another jokester quipped, “Drake out here collecting ethnicities like infinity stones, who tf taught him how to speak Arabic.”
The Twitterverse did what unconvinced and unimpressed fans do best – created a frenzy of memes that has no doubt helped boost Drake’s marketing in this latest venture into North London’s music scene. Drake was roasted for just about everything the trolls could think of—for allegedly learning the lingo from DJ Khaled to using Arabic to win Rihanna back after her split from Saudi billionaire beau Hassan Jameel. The “Views” rapper has been spotted in Barbados recently, hanging out with Rih’s younger brother Rory and linking up in front of her Rihanna Drive home. Fans quickly connected the dots and had plenty of fun at the Young Money hitmaker’s expense.
it all makes sense why drake was spittin in arabic now? https://t.co/jlx7szez1u
— mayz? (@mayzkgf) July 20, 2020
Drake walking out the studio after thinking he killed that one Arabic line in his verse pic.twitter.com/KobzPQOd5M
— Laith?? (@laithalishious) July 20, 2020
Drake adding “fluent in French and Arabic” in his CV like: pic.twitter.com/ew4MlJJy1c
— Danyal (@danyal_kk) July 20, 2020
Drake adding Arabic to his accent collection
— ? (@Dr_Sweets23) July 20, 2020
drake be rapping in a British accent with British terminology and speaking Arabic…. pic.twitter.com/1LKTap6fRu
— Hussein :D #39 (@6elmont) July 20, 2020
Truly pic.twitter.com/gmqMHiVDpv
— ( ´_?`) (@oceanadie) July 20, 2020
